CHAPTER ITHE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTINGIntroductionThe growing demand for Filipino nurses abroad has given thecountry’s administrators a responsibility of ensuring the quality of carerendered and the competency of Filipino nurses. It has to be made surethat they get the best education and that they render effective qualitycare to clients. Nurses are required to have the necessary skills to beable to achieve this. According to Valanis (2000), nurses needadditional competencies in order to function effectively, a term whichrefers to their skills, knowledge and attitude. The Joint Commission onAccreditation of Health Organizations also said that nurses need todevelop competencies to perform well in their job function. Thecompetencies stated refer to skills, knowledge and behaviors, as wellas personal characteristics.The Nursing Aptitude Test (NAT) was first used as a criterion forretention in the college of nursing, to determine a student’s learningpreferences and talents. However, on March 10, 2009, Dr. Rizalina

Mitra-Pangan approved the recommendation to temporarily adopt theNAT in the BSN program for diagnostic purposes rather than qualifyingcriteria (Malimbag, 2009). On a study made by del Rosario, et al., theoutcome of major nursing subjects and the entrance exam wereperceived to be in the position to determine cut-offs which arepredictors for passing the Philippine Licensure Examination (Malimbag,2009).Many studies that have been done on nursing quality focused ona single factor such as putting emphasis on nursing care whileneglecting other characteristics and components (Mamaoag andMagno, 2005). The study involved four culturally relevantcharacteristics of Filipino nurses: caring, compassion, commitment andconnectedness. As stated, these factors of nursing quality are directedtowards the others where caring means providing comfort, compassionis sympathetic consciousness of others, commitment is responsibilityto others and the profession, and connectedness is the nurse-patientbond.A growing concern now exists on the decline in the quality of care given by nurses and their ability to render effective care. This hasbeen the reason why the Commission on Higher Education hasidentified several ways of upholding nursing quality. Schools with

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passing rates below the national standards have been given warningsby the Commission on Higher Education making it a must for schooladministrators to know firsthand possible ways of determining theperformance of their students in the said examination in order for themto identify their course of action. The researchers of this study aim todiscover and understand the relationship that students’ performance inthe Nursing Aptitude Test may possibly have to their performance andability to pass the Philippine Nursing Licensure Examination, determinewhether the Nursing Aptitude Test can be used as a predictor forpassing the Philippine Nursing Licensure Examination.The proponents prompted this research study due to the lowpassing rate of our institution. For the past years, the average passingrate of the Notre Dame of Midsayap College – College of Nursing hasbeen above the national passing rate. However, with the school’s aimfor academic excellence, this is still not enough. This study may behelpful by providing a basis for improvement and selecting measuresto not only ensure that the students receive quality nursing education,but also to know who among the students are ready to take thePhilippine Nursing Licensure Examination and what steps to take inorder to have a high passing rate.Statement of the Problem